Affirmation:True to Life
by Harbinger Loki
Summary: Life in the lives of Botan,Hiei,Kuruma,Keiko,and Yusuke. Mainly HieiBotan, KeikoYusuke, HieiBotanKuruma, KurumaYusuke. VERY MILD YAOI, mostly Het pairings. I'm sorry if I offended anyone with any chapter. COMPLETED.
1. HieiBotan

Affirmation : Yu Yu Hakusho Version

Couplings: Kuruma/Botan/Hiei, Yusuke/Keiko, (one-sided) Koenma/Botan, Kuruma/Yusuke

A/N: Each chapter is about a line or two from Savage Garden's "Affirmation" song. I thought of this while I was reading a Hiei/Botan fic for once. All chapters are drabble.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Savage Garden.

WARNING!!! THERE IS SOME YAOI. The couplings are about life, not only true love.

LLLLLLLLLLLLL

She whispers to herself.

It was never anything new, just something she did when she was nervous or angry at herself. She used to have so much time to herself but now……

She didn't want to dwell on that thought. She never had time though she was immortal. Time was something she had forever of and now, she never seemed to have enough for herself.

The reason of her affliction was because she wasn't worth the time to be looked at or thought of.

She wasn't worth the effort.

She wasn't worth the time.

Stopping in front of the large oak tree, his old home, the woman let out a sigh of stupidity. She was being stupid.

But he was also.

She was obviously worth a lot, maybe even his selfish life, but her worth down rocketed as soon as the words 'Yukina's wedding,' had come into play.

Pausing a hand to smooth the bark from the tree, the woman shook her lonely head, watching the sun beginning to set.

Her life was often like that.

Setting before it really began. She never remembered having a human life but she considered herself human. Who knows? She might even be a demon though that was highly unlikely.

Painted tears upon a brightened seam, a sunflower in the middle of a wintered blast of ice. That was the simplicity of their love.

She was his saving grace, the only one of two he had.

Too bad, he was trying to cage his other one instead of letting it go like he should. Then again, she smirked, a casual lip lifting that she had learned from the man, he would never be able to unless someone told him to.

However, her happiness never equated with the other's. It was like a competition since he gave into those words with the help of her. She was never given enough attention.

Not even a single kiss when he got home or one when he went off. She deeply had kept it in for nearly a month by now, but her head had lost itself as he started calling her by her job.

After, that simple utterance of 'Yukina's wedding', after that, she was devoid of being his. He was only interested in protecting his grace, the other one.

It was mostly her fault for starting the argument, but then, it was also due to him. Sitting down against the bark, hands soothing as her fingers massaged her worn out limbs.

She had ran from him nearly seven hours before, and now she was disgracing herself for loving him.

She hated how he made her feel at home. Yet she loved it. Eyes closed, head bowed, she muttered the stupid sincerity that often rankled her whenever she lost a huge fight like this.

'I'm sorry.'

In a minute, a gust of wind seemed to come, lifting cerulean hair off her shoulders. He was here. Darkness with red and blue. Dragon.

"Botan." Her name sounded breathless and she could tell that he had missed her dearly. His possessive charm released into full-fledged concern. He had listened to her thoughts and often thought of going to her but not until she conceded her defeat.

Using her strength, she got up partway, to only be pulled into strong warm arms. It was an embrace she loved so dearly, one she wanted around her every night and every morning.

"I forgive you….." His words were power and she knew that he would only say them to her and mean it. He meant them for her alone. She was his.

In that essence of thought, the girl tickled the back of his nape causing him to only purr excitedly.

"Why did you give in before twelve hours?" She had easily gone missing when he particularly pissed her off, but always before sun set and never before sun rise. The darkened sky began the illumination spell of twinkling balls of light. Her record of giving in was twelve hours so far to say.

"I believe the sun should never set upon an argument." With an impish grin, she shook her defeat away and returned the warmed embrace she loved. A strong kiss came with it along with a low grumbling growl as she anticipated.

'Though, Jaganashi Hiei, if you ever ignore me like that again, I will undoubtly send every man I know at you and then send you to Renkai prison.' With a malicious smirk as they parted, he nodded his consent. He, literally, got the thought.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Okay, I've been really into Hiei/Botan fics lately. The yaoi is all mild-mannered and not really intense, and I particularly don't care for it but I wanted to write life and not a fairytale life. ;; Anyway, I hope you all like this since it will mostly be HB or YK.

PLEASE REVIEW!! LOVES TO ALL!!


	2. YusukeKeiko

Affirmation: True to Life

Yusuke/Keiko

LLLLLLLLLLLLL

It was never mentioned when one was born that life was unfair. When born, one just came with a certificate of sorts, saying they had begun simply breathing, extolling their virturous and pure life upon the stain of society's darkest corners.

It was simply breeding.

When born, the parental figures were always supposedly there. They were to do the best job they could and yet they never told the one being that life was unfair until that child got older. Never.

It was simple for Keiko.

She had everything she needed. A home, food, running water, clean toilet, and a happy life in particular and yet, she had one thing that would never make her happy.

She loved Urameshi Yusuke.

But he didn't love her, or he hid it from her really well. She supposed that she could also be dense. Cautiously, she sighed, dropping her pencil in her text book.

Whenever it came to Urameshi Yusuke, Yukimura Keiko was always confused. Even homework for her favorite subject hadn't helped by much to put her mind off the continuing useless drabble that her mind came up with.

Urameshi Yusuke was dead in sense of mind, but he was also back alive. Pausing in her thought, she yawned, reaching back from her body.

Life was no fair.

Keiko had no idea what to believe in other than the fact that she did love him very much.

She worried often over the oaf, hoping to Keonma that he returned with his cocky smile and arrogant posture. She constantly had to wonder if he was all right out in the three worlds considering most people considered him dangerous and lethal.

She was worried more than enough for him, much more than some others. Looking over to a small picture as she lost focus on the homework in front of her, Keiko smiled.

People always seemed to come home in some small form or another. Yukina, now lived in human world going to school as Botan's younger sister-in-law. Her last name gave away her heritage and legacy to her lineage or even home, Koorime.

To remind himself of his home, often when he lived in Okinawa, Kuruma simply grew roses and collected tea sets from England. It was weird but it was his own connection.

Botan and Hiei had their own things to remind themselves of home when they left on duty. The ferry woman often wore a necklace in spirit form from Hiei, while Hiei had a charm on his katana from his woman. Nothing more than a simple exchange of gifts showed their home as they fought.

Kuwabara and Shizura both had not much of a home to go to but their habits were formed from their time at their home. Shizura's smoking and Kuwabara's happiness with kittens.

And she had no home really. The only remnent of having a home that she carried with her was her simplicity. Well, if it could be called that.

But Yusuke-san, her Yusuke, seemed to carry the street-smart attitude that she had never cultivated. She sighed, pausing to think, getting up from her place upon her bed.

She had to tell him. She had to finally decide what would happen, being so indecisive was never like her!!

Picking up her enthusiasm, Yukimura Keiko, raced out, leaving two parents behind in her dust.

LLLLLLLLLLLL

So she had nothing to do as she stood waiting, determined to wait though her heart felt as if her chest could not contain it.

She felt like it was a heart attack. Heat rising, heart speeding, blood flowing, dying……..from some sort of something.

"Keiko-chan?"

She turned, body heavy in neither dread nor light in happiness. She was so pained to see him, to hear him. She was so bothered!!

"Y-Yusuke!! Ah, you shouldn't scare me like that!!" An instant imprint of a hand came on his face.

"Damn it!! Nice skirt though…." With a matching red imprint on the other side. Keiko sighed to herself, angry, ready to lash out another time. She thanked the god above that she was no longer so scared.

"Yusuke……." She sighed once more, head looking down as he was back up on his feet. Looking back to her turbulent thoughts, she knew she had to let go. Her happiness would only come if Yusuke would accept. Pausing, Keiko nodded, needing her words more than anything.

"I……I believe that…..people place their happiness…….i-in other people's hands, Yusuke……so, I'm doing that to you….."

"What do you mean, Keiko?"

"I……I…."

"What?"

"I love you." She accepted his surprised look. A personal look of clarity coming through her brown eyes for once. She was now mature and realized how silly she was keeping this away from him. Her own feeling of love enveloping her. Maybe if Yusuke said the same, maybe then she'd be able to be happy with him.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Okay, This one is done. This turned out to be really really hard for me to do but I tried. Please Read and Review!! Thanks and LOVES TO ALL!!!


	3. KuramaShiori

Affirmation: True to Life

Kuruma (Shiori)

A/N: Whenever I put a parentheses around a name with another character's name right before it means no pairing or pure platonic love simply because I don't believe in incest. It happens yes, but I don't believe love coming in that form is safe nor natural. Usually you get Cletus-brand children or something if you interbreed too closely thus the rule of Alabama. (This is actually very true. Read up on History sometimes. Most blood diseases either come from interbreeding too closely/too much or bacteria.)

LLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Humans had no longer any memory of exercise unless it was forced or they taught themselves at the global sweatshops that Kuruma hated even seeing.

Metabolic rates were easily down, simple hard labor not needed unless one were on the bottom of the food chain.

Children only played video games and simply got like Kuwabara, a little heavy set, (except he put his back into muscle. Kuruma had seen a younger picture of Kuwabara and the child was "proudly pudgy.") Mindless of others, and sometimes depending on the game genre, stupid and easily provoked.

They had no meaning of the word; "exercise," except for, "Hell in a uniform."

Life was simply too easy and junk food and money to easy to get and spend.

Kuruma paused in his typing. So far his mindless drabble of the obesity problem in America in his American studies class for his internet college credits, came along nicely, except if it weren't for the fact that he could see it happening in Japan.

His project was due until next month, but he still had to videotape his speech on the problem and then send the recording to Boston College.

Threading a few fingers in his hair, scratching his scalp, Kuruma heard the door downstairs open and close. Blinking, he wearily got away from the document being typed and went downstairs to see his psuedo-mother, Shiori.

She smiled at him; paying attention as she patted his cheeks and making him slightly blush like an excited schoolgirl on her first date, until he nearly yelled at himself in his mind.

"Hello Shuichi. How is your project coming?" Her sweet voice coming through the musical tones of a soprano English harp with the clarity of a triangle ring, smiling while she awaited an answer form the quiet son of hers. Kuruma smiled gently, helping his mother with her belongings.

"It is all right, mother. Apparently, American children are rather presumptuously obese in studies from Japan, which until I get to America this summer, I won't be able to judge for myself." He wouldn't want to presume from his studies on the Internet and many books that America's youth were generally obese. He could meet so many that he'd have to wonder about it.

"The over sea's trip is within three months, right, Shuichi?" Shiori tapped her index finger against her lips thoughtfully, fully reminding Kuruma of her tendency to do that whenever she was thoughtful or had just forgotten something.

"Yes, mother." Putting the bouquet she brought from work into a small vase that Shiori pulled out from the cupboards, Kuruma still wondered about the health of American children and worried that when he went over that they'd think he was too skinny or something.

"Would you like me to make a snack for you?" Gods, he hoped not. Maybe he could kind of pork up a little, maybe gain at least five pounds before he went over there, after all even now he was really skinny to the people within his own country.

"Yes. I would love that very much, mother." His reply was automatic and he wondered upon the thought of gaining some weight before he left. Though, he hoped that Hiei or Botan would find out. If they did, he'd nearly die.

"What would you like?" Shiori was going through her cabinets, looking for food to serve as a snack.

"I think I would like to try some potato chips and maybe some strawberry soda. Maybe the American foreign grocery place has them. If you are going out to shop for some food, mother, would you go by there and buy me some?" Kuruma decided on it. He would try to gain at least two pounds before he left so not to be too skinny compared to the Americans.

"So tea and biscuits, and I will, Shuichi. I have been wanting to go there myself." Shiori nodded, picking out a tea set and getting some biscuits from the shelves.

LLLLLLLLLL

"Now I know why the Americans gorge their stomachs out instead of _hara habi chi._" Eating at the greasiest, or probably the most greasiest, McDonalds in the whole planet was entirely unappetizing for the appearance and the smell but having everything from Papa Johns to Snow Bunny, still made him want some more American fast food.

_'I believe that junk food tastes so good because it is bad for you. ' _Ignoring Youko Kuruma, he bit into another Big Mac, letting some ketchup ooze off his chin. Gods, he was a messy eater when it came to the American fast foods.

LLLLLLLLLLL

A/N: Okay, the reason Kuruma is highly unknowing about fast foods and stuff is the fact that I think Kuruma would have more of a traditional meal every night and be highly healthy following Hara habi chi. (Which means literally 'eight out of ten.' Eat when you're satisfied, not full.) I also thought that Shiori would be more into Healthy healthy foods than harmful foods.

I did a research project on American obesity and I am sorry if I have offended any Americans who were or is now obese. I have family who is obese as well so I know not to be unkind to them like most of my friends are to my other bigger friends. I also would like it known that I do not mean to offend anyone. I used research from my own project for this small chapter.

I also am sorry for all Kurama lovers if I offended you about Kurama saying he needed to gain pounds. The kitsune hasn't had an exactly nice vision of American youth before he even started the project and so it eventually got worse and now he thinks we're all like balloons so he kind of doesn't want to stand out in this story.

I AM SOOOO SORRY IF I OFFENDED ANYONE!!! FORGIVE ME, PLEASE!!! PLEASE ALSO READ AND REVIEW!!!


	4. BotanHiei2

Affirmation: True to Life

Botan/Hiei

A/N: I still am sorry about the highly intense offending I might've done!! I really hope it is all right and that I'm forgiven but it goes with my plot line. You'll see!!

LLLLLLLLLL

People made life complicated.

It was actually pretty simple. One grows up, matures into a beauty to grow old after giving their reproducing genes to the next androgynous generation.

It had continued for at least three millennia, and every single human had at least one complicating matter in their life at least once.

Anything could set the simplicity away into complete madness. Anything. Getting a new car, new child, new life, another chance for things to go the way they should've long before, fairy tales that happened because of the perservering families or single parents.

Any sense of chaos could screw the delicate balance of a human's fractured life such as death, disease, and war. Humans had seen so many and yet they continued on with their drive going back to the simplicity endeared to them in times too hazardous to think of luxuries.

Even if he wasn't human, he still was one deep down.

Human hearts were spotted in her mind as dabbed chunks of darkness and black, shades of grey and who knew that he would have a problem with this small scene.

But this was silly beyond all reason and he would not talk nor even look at her. The tree branch they shared, his arms holding her to his body, sturdy for them and yet he still hadn't looked back to her.

A simple display of affection from a child to its mother had caused his instant shutting up.

Great. She had to deal with **_HER_** 'child' before they even decided to have children, that was if she could have children. She still had no idea about that.

That one look of affectionate habit from Hirgana Yumiko, third grader, a habitual specimen of amusement when he was bored, to Hirigana Laina had caused him to suffer and she knew that he had known she saw that regret, that pain come up unbidden.

Her demon was still as unfeeling as ever it seemed except when she often broke his barriers to let herself in her home.

But this had unglued his mind and returned him to a place she knew she didn't exist in.

His childhood memories of his parents or what parents he had.

His eyes had shone a dark crimson as if they were no longer able to go back to the mirthful red she often saw.

He was really in pain.

Botan had never dealt with the pain of her parents or her childhood. She had no idea how to respond to something she never remembered or dealt with.

It was simple for her because her past was her past and often it stayed that way. Koenma never even gave her a hint of her past at all. So she knew that she would never know it.

So she had no idea how to deal with his memories.

_'What's wrong, Yuuen?'_ She thought towards her husband, clutching her worried hand around his arms, hoping he had heard her. With his youkai power in her, growing to form an entity with her own, had helped her immensely whenever she needed to contact him and he was out of range.

His pet name, Yuuen, was just how he was. Dark chocolate flavoring upon vanilla ice cream it seemed. Her heart shook and immediately told her to refocus.

"……….My mother……..I wonder, would she have ever held me like that?" His husky voice seemed soft and broken down into reverie trying to remember how to form words from mind to mouth. He never talked about his past. When he had begun trying to mate with her, they never brought it up. It just didn't seem to be deemed important simply because she never cared.

_'Your mother?'_ She never cared because it brought her great sadness that she never knew what her childhood had been like so in turn, since she had nothing to tell him, he might as well not have told her.

_'My mother threw me off a cliff.'_ Gasping audibly, she felt the pin pricks of tears that shouldn't come but were. His arms tightened their hold, nose nuzzling softly through blue waves of hair.

_'……….Well, are you sure it was her?'_ Botan was never sure what to say except what she could immediately on her mind.

_'……….hn.'_ He wasn't.

_'I see……..'_ Even without seeing his eyes, she could tell that he wasn't sure.

_'Woman…..'_ He was warning her not to interrupt his thoughts, but they both knew she could hear the words and respond to them.

_'Yuuen, '_ She paused in thought, worry ebbing over her message. She finally laced the sentence she had wanted to tell him.

_'Would I hold my children like that?'_ She almost choked on a sob as he mentioned that. Why was he bringing probably non-existant BotanxHiei children into this?!

_'Yuuen…..'_ Her low growl was warning him to stay away from the reproduction talk. She wasn't ready to be a mother, not yet when she was nearly new with her body.

_'Would my mother have done what she did if she could've done that with me at least once?'_ His questions arose even more as he thought over his past with the bandits and then by himself. No Botan or mother there for him.

_'Yuuen.'_ She stated his name in her thought, trying to interrupt the already insecure demon, hoping to get through to him with her laced sentence.

_'I really wonder sometimes, Woman.'_ He paused in his gentle nuzzling, moving his legs to wrap around her stomach.

_'Yuuen!!'_ Turning to face him, magenta flashed with the eerie feeling of love.

_'What, woman?'_ He was caught in her trap like any other time. Her eyes were majestic, creating a fantasy out of them that often was fulfilled.

_'…..You might think this is silly, she went against her element along with your father, I believe your parents did the best job they knew how to do, even if…….it ended up with giving you up against their will or not.'_ She cupped a palm to her cheek, using her knee as leverage. Her left arm twisted to hold onto his neck.

_'………….'_ He knew she was right deep down. His woman always tended to be right when it came down to matters of the heart, matters he had no idea on how to handle.

_'Hiei……..I'll never allow that to happen to our children.'_ She finalized her thought with a dark glare. So she gave into the children idea, though she didn't exactly say that she would be having children but she did want them sometime in her life.

_'……..thank you, woman.'_ A small gentle smile came across his face. Reassured, Botan twisted around to face him, then raised her hands up under his shirt, caressing his chest with her gentle fingertips. A moan escaped him as he realized the glare was gone from his wife.

_'You're welcome, love.'_ A growl later and she found herself back in their bedroom, in their bed.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL


	5. Chapter 5

Affirmation: True to Life

Botan (Keiko)

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Savage Garden.

LLLLLLLLLLL

Humans, in the twentieth century, were strangely vain creatures. They

Had to look the best no matter what it seemed.

In a sense of a phase in every woman's wardrobe, a sense of self identity emerges. TREND. Nothing but trends it seemed became these innocent dolls of society's toy box, the Barbie's of God. One became a manufactured product of their time.

Part of a production line of doppelgangers of the real souls of those who did not adhere to fashion in times of life.

The magazine Botan held in her hands seemed to be the tasteless propaganda of the factory where it came from. In all truth, she hated dealing with the way humans turned out to be so vain compared to the many generations back when she dealt with humble people.

For the moment due to Yukina's request, Botan was staying at Genkai's temple to help with her nieces, Satsuki and Celes, while Yukina went to school with Keiko and the rest of the merry Reikai Tantei school-goers. As far as Botan was concerned, Hiei's ass had his katana or her oar stuck so far up in that dark region that he had no idea of where up and down was. Mainly, she needed the break since Hiei was being difficult, once more.

Right now, she was bored. Everyone had gone to bed and the magazine she was reading was Keiko's. Yukimura had decided to spend the night like usual. Yukina, Keiko, Shizura, and Botan had grown close and usually went to Genkai's temple to talk and mostly just hang out while watching Satsuki and Celes.

Pausing at hearing the door of her niece's room open, Botan immediately decided to get up to see what she could do for either of the children. She just hoped it wasn't Satsuki. Satsuki was the worse one of the two insisting her way often, headstrong but responsible.

"Celes?" A door was thrown open at the name and the aforementioned child looked to aunt. Her ice blue hair shaped her face into a cherubic euphoria. Expressionful ruby eyes showed curiosity. "What are you doing up?"

"Bathum." The child still couldn't pronounce her words right but at was encouraging to hear Celes answer for once. Pausing in self-thought, Botan returned to her quarters, throwing away the stupid propaganda of trends.

That was when she began hearing the soft cries of a broken spirit. Broken hearts were one thing, but a spirit was different. Only a few seconds later, Celes ran into her room, stark white skin parched of the normal rosiness. Red eyes wide in fear or shock. The sound of retching came down from the open door of the bathroom.

"Bathum!" Celes pointed, unsure of what she witnessed. She wanted it not to be a demon, even if she was one herself. Her sincere shock or fear caused Botan to sigh in resigned continuity. As they neared the bathroom though, it was not the same story.

Entering the bathroom, a human was laying against the rim of a toilet seat, brown hair pushed aside as she puked a little more. The night's dinner, dessert, and midnight snack coming into view via the mouth. Botan knew who it was.

"Keiko? Celes! Get your mother here, now!" The brunette did not respond. She had no strength to answer the death bringer. Botan cursed herself. Had her cooking not been to par? Raising Keiko from the vomit covered bowl, she flushed it down. The girl felt very light and seemed to be thin.

"Keiko!" Holding the girl close, Botan raised a hand to the girl's limp forehead. The forehead was cold and clammy, weak limbs against the force of gravity. Shaking the weakened human, Botan got no response. Keiko's normally clear eyes were in a haze of delirium. Celes rushed in with a tired and annoyed looking Yukina.

"This better be an emergency unlike last time, Cele-" Yukina gasped at the sight, unsure of what to say until Botan nodded sadly, confirming to Yukina that it was indeed the girl who had been laughing and smiling earlier. "What happened!" The ice demon rushed forward, kneeling beside the deity of death.

"She was puking. That's how Celes found her." Botan's hushed words enclosed the truth. Yukina's energy gave Yukimura the strength she had lost. Patience was all that was needed as a blue glow began to wash away from Yukina and Yukimura.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

(The Next Day)

Keiko stared at the ceiling. So her terrible secret had been found out. It wasn't anything too bad; at least she hoped it wasn't. She hadn't killed herself after all.

"Keiko, why?" Botan's voice raised out of nowhere caused brown eyes to fall upon her serious and frowning form. Botan never frowned unless it was serious enough. Obviously the death dealer had stayed in her room with Satsuki and Celes. Yukimura hadn't gone to school because of her extremely weakened disposition.

"Yusuke……." Keiko shook her head, hiding her eyes before she felt a cream hand lift them into view. She saw kindness in her face and her dam of emotions were torn away. "He……He said that…….He said that…..my legs…..that…..I…..I was getting………'big'…." With those words, Keiko felt a cry tear her throat as water fell down her cheeks like a waterfall. "I'M NOT PRETTY ENOUGH FOR HIM! I'M NOT!"

"And?"

"Some of the other girls at school have been doing the same since the beginning of Jr. High school……..I….I want to be the woman he'll love always…….I…..I was so happy when he complimented me…….a few weeks ago…..I….I couldn't…..I couldn't stop…….." Gripping the deity of death's hand, Yukimura ended her tirade of tears, sniffling here and there. Smiling gently at Botan, Keiko seemed so calm and maternal somehow. "He told me they were model quality."

"**MODEL QUALITY?"** Botan blanched, mouth gaping as anger burned brightly in her eyes. "You **mean **those skinny things from the magazines!"

"Yes……"

"Why compare yourself to them? They're nothing but superficial!" Scowling, Botan admonished the girl with a few shakes of her head and only growled in the pathetic weakness of the human fashion trend.

"I'm not as pretty as any of them! I want to be beautiful for Yusuke!" Her statement was immediately stopped by a sudden stinging to her cheek as she raised her head up to look in astonishment to Botan. Botan's scowl was irreplacable in the hall of fame of anger management. The red mark, marring the pale skin of the human throbbed in pain as Botan snarled.

This wasn't like the woman of whom Keiko had come to respect and even envy at times.

"I think you need to reorganize some priorities. I know you don't think that this conversation has any meaning right now but it will later. Your beauty magazines are stupid. Yusuke only needs one reason to be with you and that is because he loves you." Keiko's brown eyes widened, confusion settling over her expression as she looked at the fuming diety of endings.

"You…..You don't read them?" Botan's gaze sharpened exponentially as she placed her gaze into those brown orbs of despair and brokenness. Sighing, and slightly frowning less, she placed her hands on her hips.

"I don't read them because I believe that beauty magazines cause low self-esteem. You don't have to listen to everything Yusuke says about you. Most of the time that joker has no idea what he is saying."Getting up, Botan thought out to a certain someone who she hoped had gotten that stick out of his derriere.

"What should I do then? His opinion matters a lot to me." Botan grumbled as she thought out her instructions to her husband. Turning around to the hopeless and lost child, Botan's eyes softened.

"Get some help. Go to a remedial program from your doctor, but for awhile, stay at Yukina's. She'll appreciate helping you when she must and it is always all right to have a friend with you in your darkest times. You won't have to worry about Yusuke. He's going to be taken care of, Keiko. Don't worry and just get healthy once more." With that Botan promptly left the room so that Keiko could think over Botan's words of help. Once outside in the warm spring courtyard, she started convincing a demon husband of hers to shape up a certain spirit detective.

LLLLLLLLLLLLL

OMG! I finally got a laptop back! Yay! I actually wrote down all twenty chapters in a notebook and have been waiting to type them out. I'll update this story every two-four days. It matters if I have any homework at my art school.

Good news, I'm going to the Rhode Island School of Design for awhile and until I get back, typing is going to be sparse but I'm going to try and update as often as possible with really awesome chapters.

LOVES TO ALL! And please review! AND I'M SORRY IF BULEMIA OFFENDS ANYONE BUT IT IS A COMMON EATING DISORDER AMONGST YOUNG WOMEN WHO TAKE STYLE seriously!

Harbinger Loki OUT


	6. Chapter 6

Affirmation: True to Life

Hiei X Botan

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Savage Garden.

LLLLLLLLLLLLL

Love was unintentional, blind to whoever was marked with his golden tipped love arrows. A jester amongst gods and demons, a fiend against cold hearted men who bitterly fought against his arrows with callous hearts meant for no love.

Yet Love always found a way in, a secret target even unknown to the coldest of all men and gods and demons. Expert marksman, yes, expert matchmaker? Never. Love loved to fool around with his shooting and matching making matches that almost could never be but were.

That was Love's personal joy.

Love's personal joyrides were his constant pain. She was his undoing. Blue hair, swallowing into the rivers of life. Shiny magenta showing through the mass of blue like shiny mica rocks.

She was difficult. Her logic confounding, confusing to him especially. She had her good times though. She was a challenge, a bother that he willingly allowed into his life, that he willingly admitted to loving even if Love was a jerk.

This, however, was nbot one of their better times. Sure, he loved her, but she sometimes was too difficult. Another flash of blue hair and shiny eyes came into his memory.

Sitting up, Hiei clenched his fists. Their argument had consisted of little BotanxHiei children. Ones the damn woman had no idea of having. He wanted children, badly, not only because of his demonic instincts but because he could feel his life going on, slowly approaching the time to father Hiei jerks and Bubbly Botans.

He was getting old. He would be about four hundred and eighty something in demon years which amounted to about thirty three years old in stupid human years. Closing his eyes in concentration, he kept his watch upon their home, particularly their bedroom window. Blue hair flashed through the vinyl blinds when he watched, rocking back and forth.

Demon longevity was increased double at least to most in human years. He barely understood it, but he knew that he was ready for children and settling down even if he had to quit being Mukuro's heir, though truth be said that he did want his kin to experience Makai as much as the human world.

And the woman he wanted to bear his children was there in his rocking chair sulking from her latest bout of anger at him.

She was sitting there, rocking back and forth, allowing her neck to be easily seen. He wanted dearly to reach out, but he knew they both needed the space especially since she was really hurting right now. Her words had rung true to him even if he wasn't going to readily admit it to anyone but himself.

She wasn't as sure as he was about parenthood. She didn't know what she thought turly and that had easily caused him to become enraged. Though she was his, she sometimes didn't act like it. Growling, he watched her.

Rocking back and forth, lost in her thoughts as would be normal when they argued, Botan didn't seem to be disturbed as his Jagan eye powered up. His bond with her only helped to discern her moods and when she was at her best moments for concievement. In return, she, however, only got his vague feelings and he was sure she could feel the bitterness he held towards Koenma.

The spot where his third eye was glowed underneath his bandanna, the eye opening to the soft material of white. His connection with her made him feel as if he was beside her, in her thoughts, in her soul with every movement like his own.

'Why can't I have children? I should! I have a human body, a…..horny' Hiei nearly fell off at that point, holding onto the branch, picking himself back up, red tinging his cheeks. 'demon, and an unusually weird marriage.'

(It's quite normal, damnit.) He cursed to himself, growling lowly towards his chosen bride. Hiei knew he hadn't spoken into her mind, but he'd been damn near it.

'All I want is to make him happy…….I don't know why I can't manage that….' He could the extreme dispair going through his link as if it were his own, spreading into his body like rain soaking the ground.

He cursed himself again for the umpteenth time that month. Hiei was one to keep his temper in check…….Okay…….sometimes. He could remember whe he first made the annowing ferry girl his. Such a disaster was hilarious now, but then it had been drastic and insanity plunged into one.

Her angry yet undeniably exciting glare towards him when she found out probrably had been the best part. He had loved that expression, often trying to recreate the fuming pouty glare she had summoned up during her anger. The beating the shit out of him while he was held down by the fox-demon's plant ropes definetely hadn't been loving but ut was worth that look.

Hiei growled dismissively at the horribly bittersweet memory and returned his attention back to the disruptive and insightful thoughts of his significant other.

'I mean, I know I eventually want Hiei and Botan kids, but not now! I'm perfectly fine without carrying a child for nine months and then having eighteen years of being unsure. Hiei, though, would be an excellent father, but me? I have no memories of my family, nothing……I don't even have anyone able to help me at the starting point of it all.' He practically couldn't help but smile at that thought. She thought he would make an excellent father.

Toying with a piece of blue hair, Botan hugged her knees to herself. Her mind still toiling. Whenever her mind came upon her demon husband, she felt as if she was often in a sense of confusion that often had the lingering feeling of knowing she was a special part of Hiei's world. After all, she was his heart.

Here she was, and by herself, hugging her lone body in his rocking chair. He'd have a coniption fit if he knew that but what he didn't know, never would hurt him in domestic matters such as finding out she couldn't cook worth a shit.

Though Hiei watched over her in his tree, her words and thoughts to herself shook his mind. Her words were true.

'I believe……silly as it may seem, that I am loved when I'm by myself, alone, even if Hiei is angry at me, I love him……' With a cyptic smile, only shown to a certain blue-haired diety, he decided to end their spacing out period by apologizing in a most unusual Hiei way.

Who ever knew koorimes knew how to sing?

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Okay, I've been through my first week of classes and its been fun. I've been trying to hurry up typing up everything so I can send the fanfic and post it. I've been having fun at the Rhode Island School of Design. It's great to have fun at and I love most of my classes.


	7. Chapter 7

Affirmation: True to Life

KuramaxBotanxHiei

WARNING: Some Yaoi/Threesome mentioned.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Savage Garden.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

In human society, great pains are often taken to hide one's sexual preferences.

Society has often had it talked of, known but never spoken pubicly. Hitler condemned them, Americans were ina transition period, Japanese kept their secrets as well as the Romans had.

That had been his own keen observation when he became an exchange student for Boston to only get accepted at his second-choiced school in San Fransico.

He had been brought into a world were it was deemed normal to show a likeness for the same sex or even both. He had his experimentation period over but it was a new experience for he knew that he had accepted something that was as plain as day around him.

He was in love. His love was very different from Yusuke's or Kuwabara's. Theirs were devoted and known, even celebrated, while his was secret and unconditional.

For he had fallen in love with the wrong people. That's right, people.

He had fallen in love with what he called a complete soul.

A complete soul was when two half-souls come together, finding their mathcing hald an were completed upon their first kiss.

Youko's unusual attraction to the Reaper diety had not alone proved, but showed his own jealousy towards the one who Kurama was attracted to.

In a way, Youko was his half-soul, but they could never have a true complete soul for demons needed to consummate with their chosen other. They were just two halves fused with easily broken glue if they tried hard enough to break, but Kurama and Youko would never admit that they needed each other.

(Boy, I want her now.)

'Youko! She is claimed. Besides, I'm not attracted to her like you are.' Kurama sighed, putting his hand through his bangs noting that he needed to clip the ends soon. He often had to think of ways to get out of the worst situations.

Like this one.

(I don't care.) Kurama felt his chest tighten as Youko tried to force himself out of the subconcious of his half-soul. Calming the somewhat overeager fox demon, Kurama returned his sight to the bubbly Grim Reaper. Truth was, he was atrtracted to her as much as he was to Hiei.

To him, they were the same.

Two people but one soul.

He wanted to tell Botan first since he knew that Hiei's overprotective instincts would override his reasoning which let them take control of the situation, unfortunately.

Fate was actually a pretty funny diety with a wild hairstyle and wonderfully useful quirks at times, Too bad she found humor in misfortune as well in the worst drama of them all; love.

Kurama cursed to himself as he watched blue hair falling, cascading upon a large seagreen sweater. Fate loved picking on Youko for reasons unknown unless it was that poker debt he owed her or the time he stole her favorite ring and necklace set.

Black dragons with red eyes and blue peonies with magenta soft petals. Hiei and Botan, one soul, his loves and his own sexual preferences. Love was simply love.

"Botan……" He finally voiced his words into the one-sided conversation. She responded with a smile meant for life. "I have to ask something…..you'll probably be unable to do it because of certain complications but I really hope that you can grant it for me."

"What is it, Kurama?" Her gentle eyes probed into a moss of emerald green with a clarity he was sure she'd never knew she had. Yes, Botan had been the best choice to ask for his favor. She would understand his unfortunate love, after all, she fell in love from a mark that she never knew she was going to get. (She still remembered pissing Fate off earlier that week somehow.)

"Well, I'm turning nineteen next week and since San Francisco I have been pondering upon my love life. Y'see, Botan, I love two people. They're a complete soul. To me, they're actually like one person in two bodies…" The fox watched her undivided atterntion. She would understand it seemed.

"Do I know them?" The demon nodded his head to affirm her question. Her brain went to work as soon as she saw him answer. "Well, go on! I'm sorry to have interrupted you!" She smiled cheerfully, forgetting what she'd been doing.

"It is perfectly all right. Anyway, these two people are a mand and a woman and I want……that is to say….." He weakly mumbled to Botan .The Grim Reaper blinked as she understood the rest of his mumble.

"You want to make love with them on your birthday?" Her eyes were wide as she blushed slightly. Kurama nodded, green ivy eyes spinning reality as he stood at the precipe of a shut down or not. Botan immediately shot up!

"BINGO! Is it Yusuke and Keiko?" Magenta eyes shrunk in size as Kurama met the café table with his face.

"N-No! Not them!"

"I was about to say. Yusuke is way anti-men. Kuwa-"

"NO." He growled as he extracted himself from the table top.

"Hiei and myself then?" So she had pegged it down. Her conviction backed by the sad truth in the demon's eyes. So it was them.

"Botan, I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality or the people you love." With a small smile, the reaper placed her hand over his and patted it, reassuringly.

"We'll see." A gentle promise between two friends and Kurama knew he was right in asking Botan first.

Everything was going to be all right.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Okay, so I'm not typing as fast as I should. I've been working very hard at school. Anyway, lessee what have I been doing?

I have started listening to a bunch of Chinese and Japanese Jpop singers more than usual because of one of my dormmates collecting a lot of songs on her ipod. I have been up to my elbows in getting a paper done, a very cool project, a late project, and a still-life done. I'm almost done though tomorrow, I'm going to have to get some stuff from some of the art stores…..Yay……

I have been watching Scryed and I have to say that Cougar and Mimori is my favorite coupling because Ryho does not deserve Cheris or Mimori at all. He's such an ass, and Kazuma is just funny to watch.

I have started work on a one-shot for a Kenshin x Misao x Soujiro fic. It's been doing pretty awesome. I hope to get Drunken Lullaby done soon. Anyway, I have got to go and type up another chapter of this then type up Drunken Lullaby.

LOVES TO ALL! PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU!


	8. Chapter 8

Affirmation: True to Life

Kurama/Botan/Hiei

WARNING: There is talk of threesomes along with a bit of limey substances and the implication of threesomes.

Disclaimer: I do not own YuYu Hakusho or Savage Garden.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Hiei smiled in his rocking chair, his woman sleeping, leaving him to entertain himself. Entertaining himself had been limited to not going outside the house, not frightening the neighbors, and a bunch of other silly rules that he couldn't do for disturbing the general peace.

Which evenutally only left him to enjoy a snack while rrocking in his chair or cuddling up to his wife and cuddling up was definitely not a Hiei, the fire koorime, thing. It was a much more Botan, annoying ferry woman-wife, thing that he occaisionally allowed for the sake of peace within the apartment.

"Hiei…….You know, Kurama's birthday is coming up soon, right?" He looked towards the half-naked diety, growling at the fact that she was wearing clothes though he couldn't disprove her reasoning. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and the rest of the Reikai Tentai just walked in without knocking at the front door.

"Yes, woman. It hadn't slipped my mind." Her emotions were disturbed which was unusual for her after her afternoon nap when she got home from the human school. (She was to make sure that Yusuke and Shuichi didn't go nuts or something like that.) Eyeing her with a critical look, he frowned. "What's wrong, Botan?"

"Well, uh….." Wringing her hands together, Botan bit her cherry lips in hesitance and uncertainty. Her lip biting caused a shiver to run up the koorime's spine. He loved that lip and he could remember biting it as well earlier that morning. Her head shook as she felt her chest tighten. She wanted to help Kurama, and she knew what it was like to watch someone she loved not know of her love and live with someone else.

She didn't want Kurama to be denied his request, after all, he wanted to share himself in an act of love with the two people he loved the most in the world in such a sexual fashion.

"Speak up." Hiei felt the increase of tulmotous emotions flittering across his wife's heart along with an awkward sense of fear, one he was not willing to allow from his wife with him there. Getting up, wanting to comfort her from her fear, he reached out for his wife. Her smooth cotton white shirt came into his grasp as he pulled her into his embrace. A glint showing that he would preferred to hear it from her then read it from her mind.

"Well…..he requested something strange…..I suppose for his birthday….." His intense look towards his wife increased tenfold as she felt herself shrink, tears coming into her eyes. Crimson eyes widened with concern as Hiei tightened his embrace.

"Tell me, Botan…" She smiled, threading her fingers through the inky darkness that was Hiei's hair. Her demon was considerate in his own way though she was often thrawted in her efforts to get Hiei to consider to do something somewhat normal like her going to school with Yusuke.

"He wants to…..uh, well….he wants us both to…." The pink hue from her cheeks increased, the tension of her hands inhis haire tightened and the increase heat of her southern region was heightened by his demon senses. He knew that it was something to do with happy hours tango.

"I mean….This is so hard to ask of you!" Tears flowed down her cheeks to only get swept up by a pink tongue owned by her demon husband. She was always awed by his kindness albeit strange and somewhat cruel it could be.

"Then just say it, woman!" Hiei always got edgy whenever she cried. He often felt like it was his fault so he tried his best to stop the tears.Now made angry, Botan nearly exploded with the request that was made.

"He wants to have sex with us both because he loves us, you stupid demon! He believes that we're the same soul or something like that! THERE YOU HAV-" She was instantly cut off, being pulled down into a kiss of sweet ecstacy wrapped in bearbly warm arms.

"Do you want this as well?" He questioned afterwards, catching his breath as his nimble calloused fingers wrapped under her shirt onto a pair of highly sensitive nubs flickering them with a quick brush, then rolling them between his index and thumb on both hands respectively. An intense moan fell out of her throat causing a certain consequence.

"Y-Yes! I belie-believe…..ah!" A flicker and she knew that she was not wearing anything but her favorite pair of Victoria Secret panties. "That trust, especially my trust in you, is more important…" Another unguarded moan escaped her, a salty tongue connecting with a hardened nub.

"More important than…..?" He let the question hang as he gave his attentions to her increasingly warm body, listening to her voice as she tried to get out her statement.

"Than…monogamy!" A scream followed as she arched her back from the source of her screaming. Apparently, a nimble finger had "accidently" slipped into a certain pair of panties. Looking up to his wife, Hiei saw the delectable desire and the sensational love floundering in her darkening magenta eyes. He trusted Botan heavily, he lover never in real question with him. Even if this excursion with Kurama and Youko happened, she'd still love him and only him as he would love her and only her still.

"Well, I'd love to get that damned fox a surprise, after all, you're mine and only mine no matter what." With a slightly satisfied smile, Botan moaned even more as he searched for a certain spot of hers with his fingers.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

I love Botan and Hiei lime. Teehee…..Anyway, I got two done today! Whoohooo! This rocks! Now that I've got this done I'm going to post it today.

HAPPY 4th OF JULY EVERYONE! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Please review!


	9. BotanHiei

Affirmation: True to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Savage Garden nor YuYu Hakusho.

LLLLLLLLL

(Botan x Hiei)

"At Genkai's temple, once again, eh, Hiei?" A grin played over a certain smart-assed spirit detective's face causing a short demon husband to grown in response. He had come to tell his sister, Yukina Koorime, a great bundle of good news that his wife had told him the day before. Though being irritated at the spirit detective was a usual, he was in too good of a mood to care.

"Botan kicked you out to do her aerobics or what?" Too bad that Yusuke's head on a pike or on his katana made his mood extremely happy and amused him even more. Only taking a partial glance before pushing the detective to the side, the moody koorime smiled in a creepy fashion. Staring at the ascending fire demon, Yusuke's mouth stayed open to the world, gaping at the demon.

"Did he just smile!" Disbelief was written all over his face as his girlfriend only shook her head and started dragging her stunned speechless and gaping boyfriend up the stairs with her renewed strength as she was still recovering from her bulimia episode.

"Oh, shut up. So what if he was smiling? Maybe if you think about it for once, Yusuke, he may have something to be happy about." With a glare, Keiko only shook her head as she could guess the news because of the last bit of Hiei x Botan drama that happened. She only hoped that whenever Yusuke and her decided upon children that she didn't have the trouble that Botan was having.

"Yukina." Hiei entered into the temple to get rushed at by his sister's daughters, Celes and Satsuki. Both girls resembled their mother greatly, innocent and almost unconditionally happy. Kuwabaka treated the girls as if they were princesses, giving both girl's a father figure that Hiei never would be able to give them nor that Yusuke would.

"Hiya, Uncle Hiei!" Satsuki was more gregarious than her nearly silent partner in crime. She spoke up and acted as innocent as Botan while Celes only asked questions if she was curious. He smiled back, patting both girls on the head.

"That is a new reply, brother." Turquoise and red came down in the form of his twin sister. Eyes of rubies, sharp and clear, observed his own face for the indication of his visiting. He barely came without reason, apologizing to or for getting away from his lovely wife, Botan, being the top two reasons.

"What is, Yukina?" He allowed a room for another smile as Yusuke came barging in. His brown eyes narrowed at the ferry woman's husband noticing the actual happy face that the demon withheld on his visage.

"Okay! What have you done with Hiei!" A well-earned glare came in the general direction of the spirit detective as a sharp resounding slap came from a certain girlfriend of said detective. Hiei grinned then saw the form of his wife materialize towards him, taking a tiny glance at the poor soul of the detective in pity.

"Oh, stop being such a meanie, Yusuke." She frowned when she entered, having heard Yusuke's question. Her face brightened though at the smile her demon husband showed her. Hiei felt her gentle yet robust nature glow from within. Her hair fell in a different way it seemed.

His sister seemed to have caught on, realization dawned sharpening her soft features. Turquiose hair was twisted by her fingers, falling into the plain straightness it normally held. Smiling, she nodded to her brother and then took Satsuki into her arms with Celes hanging onto an annoyed Uncle Yusuke.

"Does Koenma agree with this, Botan?" The bubbly Grim Reaper looked only partially surprised. Hiei's sister always seemed to have a top notch receptivity to anything new though she often ignored most people.

"No, but he understands that I'll need to take leave during the second and third tri." Tilting her head to the side, Botan smiled gently, her seeming to affect everyone around her in wonder.

"What is going on here! First, Hiei comes in all smiling which is creepier than his glaring and now, you and Yukina are talking in code about the diaper rash in the sky!" Growling with his short temper, Yusuke's eyes darted side to side causing Celes to giggle as she held onto his pant leg.

"That's Lord Koenma to you, Yusuke!" Narrowing her eyes Keiko almost felt sure that Botan and Hiei's minds were switched for a second. Yukina only blinked, tilting her head in question.

"Bah. Go ahead and tell the idiot, woman." Hiei turned to holding his wife close by with her fingers. The bubbly Grim reaper laughed joyfully towards Yusuke.

"I'm finally pregnant!" Their reactions were a bit different than what she expected. Celes didn't care really while Satsuki asked questions to Yukina. Yukina was smiling and Keiko was delighted. Yusuke's reaction, however, was that of a frightened rooster, getting cornered by a small black puma named Hiei's offspring.

"N-N-NO WAY!" His eyes seemed to be popping out. 'Imagine little Hieis! All wanting to kill you! Or little Botans! All of them talking endlessly and happily!' Yusuke's mind was in horror mode, terrified at the very idea that Botan and Hiei were going to produce a generation of fright. He came up with a quick reply to questioning glares sent towards his way. "I thought dead people couldn't have kids!"

Botan looked ready to kill while all the others looked on for the almost sure-fire imminent beating from a certain oar or bat. Hiei weatched with a simple pleasure as she glowed with a new power.Yusuke flinched as she raised her arms above her head.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Screaming, Yusuke finally opened his eyes to see the boisterous ferry woman with her hands on her hips. Smiling, Hiei thought to himself, 'I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul, woman.'

LLLLLLLLLLL


	10. YusukeAbeko1

Affirmation: True to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Savage Garden nor YuYuHakusho or the song.

LLLLLLLLL

Yusuke (Abeko)

LLLLLLLL

Yusuke sighed as he watched his mother stumble in, alcohol dripping off her breath. Grumbling, he looked to who had decided to drag his mother home.

"Damn brat!" Yelling as she entered, Kuwabara's sister propped his mother into the nearest chair. Glaring at Yusuke's lazy face. Shizura was now a bartender at Abeko's favorite bar and no was often the one bringing the reveling woman home to him.

"Nice night out, isn't it, Shizura?" A glare told him to shove it. She was, obviously, having a bad night because of what she heard from Kurama. The fox demon had turned down her advice to quit being so devoted to a "married" couple and deliberately shut her attentions down.

"Sure, if you're a bat." Dropping her off, Shizura turned around to leave. "Her debt was raised by fifty dollars. If she doesn't pay the five-seventy-three she owes my bar then she won't be welcomed. I like your mom but this is the truth from the boss. If she doesn't pay up for her debts then all the bars and Tokyo will be closed to her." With that said the older woman exited, shutting the door softly behind her.

Sighing, Yusuke only shook his head at his alcoholic mother. Picking her inert body from the chair, he took her shoes off and disrobed her to her night shirt. Waking up, a bit more sober than before she'd fallen asleep in the chair, Abeko looked up towards her son, smiling foolishly.

"Yuuusuuke!" Being drunk, she leaned heavily on him. "Honeeeey…." Raising her hand to cling to him as he laid her down onto the futon, she sometimes used. "Pleeeeeease siiiiing my song." Biting down on a tart reply, Yusuke only shook his head.

"You better cook me some food later." With a look of disblief, Yusuke began to sing a lullaby from his own infancy that his mother had whispered from the dark to him.

"Lay down your sweet and weary head…….Night is falling" Placing her on the futon, he realized his mother's lullaby was something she never allowed anyone to sing except for his grandmother, Atsuki.

"You have come to journey's end. Sleep no." His mother's eyes were filled with a simplicity that was unmeasured. She loved the deep baritone that he sang to her with, smooth and casual to her drunken heart.

"Yusuuuke……..do you think I'm wooorth anyyything? I know I'm useless, never cooould keep a steeeeady job…..neveer home much……." The tears feel from her eyes as she reached out towards him. Grasping her hand, Yusuke wiped the tears away with a brush of his thumb.

"I never cared about that, mom. I don't care how much you owe, we'll pay it off somehow. I believe that family is worth more than money or gold." Kissing her cheek and drawing away, Yusuke saw the semblance of love in her eyes. "We'll get through this together, like how we normally do."

"Thank you……" Nodding, Yusuke held onto her hand while she fell asleep. Yusuke smiled and held her for once in his sixteen year old life.

LLLLLLLLL


	11. YusukeAbeko2

Affirmation: True to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Savage Garden nor YuYu Hakusho.

LLLLLLLLLLL

Yusuke (Abeko)

LLLLLLLLL

Yusuke flopped onto the couch, staring at a non-existant TV. Their television had been sold for the house payment while the home stereo system went for the food bill. His mother had went into a rehab clinic, promising she'd become a batter helper with the debts she owed.

Going cold turkey was hard for her though. She shook, trembling much like the ground during a small earthquake. Abeko could only grit her teeth through her episodes. She wanted to prove badly that she could still be a mom, a caretaker, and a provider. After all, in her mind, Yusuke was counting on her for at least keeping some food in the cupboards and a roof over their heads if anything.

He stared in thought as he heard his mother come in, tear-stained. She was well dressed in a plain black power suit with a white blouse and work skirt. She was beautiful as a work woman even without a job.

Her interview for the manager job at the American restruant was only that afternoon. Yusuke had gotten a job working at a ramen joint by third street, a few blocks away. Noticing her downward appearance and that fact that she was shaking with white knuckles gripping her small handbag, he could tell she failed.

"Hey, Yusuke." Her face brightened only marginally from the wallowing in sorrow. Sitting down in front of Yusuke, she pulled out a brush, handing it to him. Looking at her questionably, he barely heard her speak.

"Brush."

Placing the hair utensil into her hair and going down gently, Yusuke could feel her body go lax at the attention its crown was receiving. Leaning back, Abeko allowed the silence to dissolve.

"I think we'll be out of debt soon, you know? I mean, I know we'll have to work but we can do it, after all, we've pulled through worse so far." Sighing, contented with her encouragement speech she let it out.

"They don't want to take in a drunk. I've kinda been this way since you were little and your dad went away. Even after all this time, I still miss him. You remind me so much of him, You know that Yusuke? He was really self-reliant and often didn't think of others except for who he cared about most. He was afraid of when I was having that he could no longer be who he was. He ran." Looking up to Yusuke, she gave him a silly grin. "Unlike him, you don't run."

"Thanks mom." Smiling, he kissed her brow the thought the truth to himself. 'I believe that the struggle for financial freedom is unfair. I know you're going to land a good job soon, mom. I believe in you and I won't run. For you, that's all you need right?'

LLLLLLLL


	12. HieiBotan2

Affirmation: True to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Savage Garden nor YuYuHakusho or the song.

LLLLLLLLL

Botan x Hiei

LLLLLLLL

Growling in annoyance, Botan walked into the office where Prince Koenma sat doing boring paperwork and being a workaholic as usual. Pushing open his door with a bang, from a much loved bat, Botan gave her best impression of a patented 'Hiei-death-to-you-all' glare that only two women could ever fend off. One being her, the other Yukina.

"WHAT. IS. THE. MEANING. OF. THIS?" Botan made sure to enunciate every word properly. She wanted Koenma to understand she was not happy with this decision at all. The ferry woman however only got a quizzical look from the prince of Renkai. In her hand, about a centimeter from his face, was a small piece of paper, glowing pink.

Botan had received her mail like normal from the spirit and human realm getting a pink slip, directly from her Lord Koenma. Her and Hiei's home, food, and bills were paid by the spirit realm accountants since she was a top-ranked employee or rather used to be.

To say she was vehement would be a cause for concern. Botan looked like a woman on the edge. Koenma stared at the flap of papyrus she held, ascertainingb its calue and its use, which apparently wasn't good in this case.

"You're given your freedom, Botan. After you have **his** child, you will no longer be a ferry woman. We will still pay for human necessities like your house on earth, but you will have to start paying for your entertainment needs." Koenma was in his teenage form, taller than her by far and more intimidating though he was being brow-beaten by his ex-assistant.

"Why, Master Koenma!" He seemed to only blink at her before returning his view to his desk, looking over the allotted papers. Botan could hear the gears working through her ex- boss's head. Koenma was really bitter to Hiei for no reason she understood to well. Maybe it was because she was oblivious.

"I told you the justifying reason, Botan. The child will need you there and besides, Ayame is doing your job just fine. We also have a few new trainees, so there is no worries of having to call you back from your maternity leave." Koenma never looked her in the eye anymore, preferring to act like she could not be graced with his visage.

"No, what I meant was why did you not at least **talk** with me about my job! Ask for what I wanted!" She began jabbing a finger towards Koenma to only be grabbed from behind by her husband, Hiei.

"Leave this to me, woman. Go home. You've had too much fun for one day." She looked at her husband to see unresigned hatred towards Lord Koenma. Growling in displeasure, Botan stalked to the door then turned around to her ex-boss.

"KOENMA! You're a self-centered **jerk**!" With that she left agreeing to her husband's request. She did feel awfully tired out just from traveling to Renkai. 'I believe the one's who disagree are millionaires………especially when it comes to laying off workers!' Hiei shook his head at his woman's thoughts.

"Now, what does my wife have a problem with?"

LLLLLLLLL

FUN! Go Hiei! Almost done! Whoot! Go me!


	13. ShizuraAbeko

Affirmation: True to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Savage Garden or YuYu Hakusho.

LLLLLLLLLLL

Shizura (Abeko)

LLLLLLLLL

Shizura sighed as she allowed Ms. Uremashi into her var. The bar was bare except for a few stragglers. The cherry wood all around created a sense of the dark room. The golden light from the bottles behind the bar created a sense of home.

Resting against the counter, Abeko looked to Shizura, blinking against the soft glow of bottles. Her hair splayed around her in disarray.

"What's with that look?" Taking in a breath of carbon dioxide and nicotine from a rolled up cigarette, Shizura looked down at the woman. Her eyes were hard, unhappy and dispassionate.

"You're so young and so old all at once, you know." Ordering a soda, Abeko kept staring at Shizura's eyes. The barkeeper, holding a glass, had a bewildered look on her face.

"What do you mean?" the barkeep's normally calm brown eyes were unsettled towards the older woman who could barely be her mother. Yusuke's counterpart of heritage only sighed, looking into the hard liquor bottles across the stretch of wood.

"All ready to go out in to the big world when you've already seen the horrors………You're almost…….wise, I suppose….." She trailed off, slinking the ice around in her soda glass. The obvious klink from the glass resonated within the pub. "Actually……..you're in love……got rejected too, didn't you?"

"N-No. I'm not." Seeing the defiant glare down at her, Abeko only rose an eyebrow. The barkeep's face was reddened and her brows furrowed into the eyes of someone unredeemed.

"You're in love. There's no doubt about it, Shizura……..The thing is…….you've accepted the fact that he doesn't want you. What you haven't accepted is that he'll won't begin to ever love you……….right?" Yusuke's mother pointed her finger towards the bartender as if to drive home her point. Shizura began puffin on the cigarette in her mouth in her hands like nothing else. Her eyes were closed in a grimace as her heart began hurting again.

She thought she was over the heartache.

"Y'see……..I believe that forgiveness is the key to your unhappiness. You forgive him because he can't love you now but you hope to hell he'll eventually learn to love you." The bartender held her hands to her heart, the pumping and throbbing fell into a noisy orchestra that nearly drover her to her knees, Tears fell, crystal by saltwater crystal.

"Is…..Is that wh-what……" She couldn't finish because of the stabbing pain in her heart. Daggers twisted and turned so that it was much like an unseen assailant in her blood wrangling her heart apart.

"Yeah………..That's what happened….."

LLLLLLLL

Yeah, Kurama's all man plus one Botan. I only had a small problem with that idea but I still like what I had written as it fits well.


	14. HieiBotan3

Affirmation: True to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Savage Garden nor YuYuHakusho or the song.

LLLLLLLLL

Botan x Hiei

LLLLLLLL

Smiling, Botan lay upon the open green grass, below the tree where a certain husband of hers dwelled since they had visited the park. Hiei, she could've sworn, was the reincarnation of either a chipmunk or a squirrel by the way he often hung out in the tree branches.

She hoped that their first-born would not try to do Hiei's weird yet lovable idiosyncrasies. She would not want to see herself a few years later yelling at her child and husband to both come down from their branches to go home. Though it did leave a cute image in her mind, Botan really did not want to have to do that.

Smoothing out her maternity dress of a soft blue, she rested a hand on her stomach. She wasn't showing much but she was showing enough for others to know she was pregnant. It was curious though that she was only about four to five months and she was showing by a somewhat increasing margin. She already felt like a watermelon for Koenma's sake! Yukina had assured her that the feeling was normal though she had remarked on the size of Botan's stomach.

For some reason, she really knew that it wasn't. Deep down, she was really scared about giving life to a being when she had such irony of having taken life as well. She could only hope the child would not be too much like her demon husband even if she did love him.

Noticing her contentment, Hiei fell down softly next to his wife. Her blue green hair splayed around her creating a euphoric beauty of etheralness that she often contained. Her closed eyes and easy breathing told him she was drifting off into a land of the possible within the impossible.

Raising her sleepy head to lay down on the truck, Hiei placed the blue haired human's head on his lap and began to softly brush her hair with his fingers. Lately, the urge to ravish her lay low even for him.

He chalked his lowered sex drive due to Botan being pregnant but he knew that it was a possibility of many things. Botan and he had decided to marry in Renkai terms so that she would be satisfied that the child would be born within her type of wedlock and his.

Just the same, Botan's sex drive went below zero, though he heard from Yusuke about Yukina's sex drive going almost so extreme that Kuwabara had lived with Keiko and him for a few nights out of weariness. Botan had enough complications wearing her down with keeping food down, super senses and the fact that she was often craving some sort of food he'd never even heard of.

He was often using his Jagan eye nowadays to keep in constant contact with either Yusuke or Kurama.

He was truly wedded to his wife so he knew that she could never sever her ties with him. He sighed, seeming to relax fully, purring at the softness of his bride's hair.

"You know what, woman? I believe wedded bliss negates the need to be undressed. I'm happy……….I'm really happy to be with you……" Whispering, Hiei gently placed a kiss on his wife's forehead, convinced she was sleeping deeply.

As he lay back, a smile so gently like that of a mewling kitten was left upon his wife's lips.

LLLLLLLLL


	15. TV Evanglists

Affirmation: True to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Savage Garden or YuYu Hakusho.

LLLLLLLLLLL

Yusuke(Botan)

LLLLLLLLL

Walking into Yusuke's apartment, Botan only shook her head at the mess. The teenager couldn't keep anything clean above "disaster" level. Keiko, Yukina, Satsuki, and Celes followed in, side-stepping unidentifiable blobs on the floor.

"Papa! Unca Kuma! Unca Yusuke! Unca Hiei!" Bounding in, twisting out of her mother's hand, dragging along her reticent and shy twin sister, Celes, Satsuki went over to each of her uncles, hugging her "father", Kuwabara. Yukina's daughters adopted Kuwabara as their father even if Hiei had been rather vehement about it.

"What are you watching?" Keiko asked, finally into her boyfriend's living room. She blinked as she looked at the screen. Her English, though a little poor, translated well as she watched some guy, arms outspread in priestly vestments, talking, bible in hand.

"An evangelist? Are you turning into a bible thumper, Yusuke? Who would've known?" Botan overlooked the couch of boys, most of them shrugged in response. In all truth, this was the only thing that seemed even exciting as Yusuke tried to listen to the strange language spouting out from the priest's mouth.

"Wait until he hits some random cripple with that book of his, woman." Hiei smirked as she watched the man on the TV began rapping some handicapped man's brow. Kurama was reading and Kuwabara was distracted talking to his kids while Yusuke watched and grinned at the action.

"Hey, Botan?" Yusuke called out to the blue-haired pregnant woman causing a growl to come from the ever possessive Hiei. "I've gotta question." The teenager paused to motion for Keiko to sit down, admiring the brown eyes of his girlfriend. Yukimara sat, blushing, turning away from neither embarrassment or anger.

"I've got an answer probably." The ex-ferry woman put the shopping bags she held on a vacant space, saddened to hide the floor since she saw that there was an ounce of clean space. Sitting on the couch arm, beside her husband, she turned to watch the tv man beat some more sense into an obviously blind woman.

"Does Kami, You know, God, endorse these guys or what?"

"No. I believe god does not endorse TV evangelists. They're a really special bunch of loonies, if you ask me." And that was that.

LLLLLLLL


	16. HieiBotanKurama

Affirmation: True to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Savage Garden or YuYu Hakusho.

LLLLLLLLL

Botan x Hiei

LLLLLLL

"Push! Puuuush!" A nurse from the heaven realm commanded the blue-haired humanoid sitting in an awkward position on the bed. Her face contorted in anger and pain. Hiei and Kurama were to pay, heavily. Demon births were often hard because of the tendency that demon babes drew power from their mother using her lifeforce as part of their feeding. Botan gripped the already broken hand of her fainted demon husband. His body dangling from her grip onto the floor.

"AAAAAAAH!" Screaming, the hand went doubly purple as a nurse came by with a damp cloth to wipe away sweat. The only thin on Botan's mind was that Hiei and Kurama were going to hang by their noses strapped above a boiling pot of lava, after she had her way with them ten ways from Sunday.

Another scream, a younger one, came out as Botan pushed with her body. Her heart clenching in pure agony and bliss. The nurse began preparations of cleaning the child as she cut the umbilical cord, tying it effectively. It was then she noticed something strange along with the doctor. There was another head coming out of her dilated southern region.

'Oh, shit.' The nurse and the doctor looked at each other and nodded, before the first one started screaming its lungs out. The loud thing sure had a pair of lungs on it.

"You have the first one out. Just one more push, Mrs. Jaganashi!" The nurse carrying the first child put on a cheerful face. She felt as the woman put her eyes on her as if the nurse was going to self-combust. Hearing words of dread, Botan cursed like Yusuke onm a bad day. Then the words hit home.

"WHAT? THE **_FIRST_** ONE!" Screaming, Botan pushed a second time. Another infantile cry came and the woman in labor felt as if her heart stopped as she heard the small cry. Those two were beautiful as she was handed them. Her husband woke up only a few seconds after the second delivery to see when she was handed both bundles of joy.

Both were beautiful as they watched her with intelligent eyes. One was a red-head with a few wisps of tinged hair, and mismatched eyes of pink and green. The other was a blue-haired boy with red eyes. The redhead was a girl, mystifying in her smaller size of almost five pounds and six ounces. The boy weighed only a pound heavier and seemed bigger.

"What are their names?" Now Hiei and Botan seemed to despair for that was the one thing that they hadn't planned on or rather both couldn't agree to one let alone to liking two. Botan looked to him with a glare that signed his death if he answered anything.

"Sage Yuuen Jaganashi for my boy……." She thought his hair reminded her of sagebrush, a few of the bushes she had seen once in awhile when she traveled, and Yuuen was a lovely name for him, as it was with her husband. The redhead stared at her with sleepy, blinking eyes as she thought of one for her. She was like the earth, a Terra then, and also those mismatched eyes reminded her of the goddess Artemis from the Greek myths. Something wild and fierce behind the gentility of her. "Artemis Terra….."

She paused on the last name. Shinomori or Jaganashi? She knew then at once that Artemis was to be Kurama's. He deserved this piece of them. Artemis would help him to grow even more than he already was growing.

"Shinomori."

"Is that her last name?" Nodding, almost too tired to speak anymore, the mother of two held her children close. Her husband finally taking notice of the dull throbbing of his hand saw that it was broken. He picked up Artemis from his wife's arms, relieving her of the weight, to see the difference immediately. Looking over to Sage while holding his redheaded child, he made a silent vow.

Artemis would be treated like his own, even if she smelled more like a fox demon than a fire demon like his son.

LLLL

A Week Later

LLLLL

"Artemis will only stay in our care until Kurama can take care of her, himself! She deserves to be with him, Hiei. It doesn't mean she won't know us!" He only grumbled holding Sage in his hands while Botan held the twin girl. "She will still think of you as a father, but she'll need to live with him. After all, I think this is karma."

"Karma?" The concept was foreign as he held his child closer stroking the blue hair. Sage was quiet, barely doing anything but sleeping most of the time, now anyway, compared to the ball of red fluff that contained his sister, the strawberry shocker.

"I believe in karma, what you give is what you get returned." Reaching out a warm hand, Botan intertwined her fingers with rough calloused ones. "Kurama gave us love and I am willing to give him a return gift for his unconditional love for us. Artemis is his by genetics. He needs to have someone to take care of and love." Hiei only growled but faced the other direction. He knew when he had lost.

LLLL

YAYNES! ALMOST THROUGH!


	17. KeikoYusuke

Affirmation: True to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Savage Garden nor YuYu Hakusho.

LLLLLLLLL

Keiko x Yusuke

LLLLLLLL

Laying down, wrapped in the strongest arms she knew, Yukimara Keiko only smiled at the security she felt. Yusuke, even if he was a pervert, never tried anything when they slept next to each other in some sort of pajamas.

Whenever she lay like this, thoughts of losing him again were constant on her mind. She loved him and would do anything to make him happy but she wondered how she would live without him if she had to.

"Yusuke?" A grunt was his only response. Angry, Keiko turned around to find a flushed spirit detective staring at her with chocolate eyes. Yusuke always had a hard time controlling his instincts whenever they lay together just as long as she turned around to face him that is.

"Y-Yes?" Blushing, Keiko turned back around, feeling a stiffness near her thigh. Sighing, she got on with her question.

"Do you think that even if you're killed one day that we'll love each other in another life?" Clutching his arms, Keiko nuzzled her chin into them, breath hitching as she felt his mouth tenderly kiss the back of her nape, his small fangs grazing her skin lightly.

"I believe in love surviving death into eternity. I mean…….Well, I guess what I'm saying is you're stuck with me whether or not you like it, Ms. Yukimura." He mocked her again, nuzzling her scent to his mind, as she smiled. Typical teenage Yusuke. "Marry me."

"…….Okay, Yusuke. I'll marry you." With that, his instincts took over and he claimed his wife by marking her with the demon's mark. A lot of screaming was heard the next morning when Keiko had thought he was just giving her a hickey.

LLLLLLL

I love that aspect of demons mating. I find it really really cute!


	18. Botan Koenma

Affirmation: True to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Savage Garden nor YuYuHakusho or the song.

LLLLLLLLL

Botan (Koenma)

LLLLLLLL

Humans were a strange lot, but they were a lot that were his charge along with the demon realm. Love was one of those things he didn't know how to explain. Botan had been by with Artemis, the noisy babe that she was, and the scary Sage.

Both were highly intelligent as far as he could tell though the girl had Botan's lungs for sure. The first second he held the red-headed child, the half-breed started wailing louder than a communicator on the highest volume ever. The mother of two looked nonchalant as he surmised it probably happened often. The child didn't stop until Botan, unceremoniously, took his pacifier out of his teenage mouth and pop it into the screaming infant's.

He had glared but only ended up sighing in defeat. He did love Botan but he was getting over her slowly. He kept her away most of the time because of the ache at just the sight of her made him feel. Botan knew he loved her, wishing she could reciporate those feelings but she knew her other half would always be Hiei.

"Botan, how did you know **he** was the one?" Koenma set down a glass of ice tea in front of her. The woman only looked up in thought, then smiled and blushed at the memory.

"Hiei………well, I knew….and I took care of him when we had all gotten that flu about a few years ago, and well……..he opened up……I knew then when he trusted me that he knew too…….OH! It's really weird to explain! I'm sorry….." Blushing, Botan only shook her head in thought. "There was also the fact that he could guess everything that I liked and then planted some peonies in my yard when he asked me to become his mate……..I think that was what really got to me, but he was really caring……and uh…..I really don't know! I just loved him."

She began stroking Sage's hair, soothing herself out of embarrassment, her smile radiating even more.

"But I really wouldn't have known if I hadn't got rejected by someone I loved as well…….I believe you can't know real love until you've been burned." Koenma stared at her, the wisdom she spoke was centuries old. He couldn't remember Botan when she'd ever been hopeful of someone else's feelings.

"Who was it?"

"Promise not to laugh?"

"I promise."

"Yusuke…….HEY! YOU PROMISED!"

LLLLL


	19. KuramaYusuke

Affirmation: True to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Savage Garden or YuYu Hakusho.

LLLLLLLLLLL

Yusuke x Kurama

LLLLLLLLL

Humans had strange relationships, unlike those of any persuasion. Their sexual relationships were highly varied. Some loved monogamy, polygamy, sadism, pedophilia, and even necrophilia.

These relations can last or stop suddenly such as a child fighting back or a corpse being found. This relationship, however, was to make sure of one's sexual preference.

Yusuke shook his head as he waited for Shuichi or rather as he preferred being called, Kurama, to come to his dorm from his classes. He was sitting down in the adult's dorm, waiting nervously. He had, for some weird reason, began noticing his guy friends in ways that would cause his wife or rather fiancé to cry in horror along with himself in shame.

The door rattled as the keys jingled, opening the apartment. The Red-headed fox demon's eyes opened wide as he saw his visitor. Carrying a bag of food and the "loudest-in-all-of-Maikai" little bundle of joy they both knew, Artemis, the fox entered, closing the door behind him. Setting the food by his miniature fridge and laying his daughter in her crib, he turned to look at the other man with bewilderment.

"What's wrong, Yusuke? You've never come over since Artemis was born." The room accented the book smart fox with a few bookcases and a table with his laptop on it, a college hardcover beside it, open to where he was at in his note taking. The crib, settled beside the bed was a bright ray of sunshine as Shuichi's mother had gotten it for her granddaughter. The reason Yusuke stopped his visiting was blatant. No one wanted to visit because of Artemis. She drowned everything out with her high-pitched squealing or wailing.

Botan or Hiei didn't get sick of it, but almost everyone else had, well except for Kurama and his mother.

"I want to make sure of something before I decide to propose to Keiko, the human-way tomorrow." Scratching the back of his hand, blushing in embarrassment, Yusuke continued. "You seemed like to the best guy to ask and all……I mean, I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side but……..Shit." He paused once more before reaching over and capturing Kurama's lips in his own.

The kiss was short but during those moments, Yusuke knew his fiancé-wife, was really the only one for him and these feelings were short-lived even if he had liked the kiss and the receiver.

"I hope it was answered but don't use me like that to answer your relationship problems, Yusuke."

"Thanks man. Please don't mention this to anyone."

"I won't." Kurama watched him leave, contemplating on a really old fantasy before he began hearing the mewling noise of his daughter. At least he got one of his fantasies done in this strange exchange.

LLLLLL

GO KURAMA! Anyway, yeah! ONE LAST CHAPTER!


	20. KeikoYusuke2

Affirmation: True to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Savage Garden nor YuYu Hakusho.

LLLLLLLLL

Keiko x Yusuke

LLLLLLLL

Funerals were for those who just passed away into the spirit realm. It was usually a bleak affair, improper oftentimes in the case of the victims left behind.

This case was close to all though. Each person stared at the casket in most overwhelming sorrow. Standing all in black, there stood one who looked as if he was holding onto the last shred of sense.

Companions each left, one by one, chilled by the cold rain as if the god above was crying tears for those left behind the departed. The sincerity of the situation shocked him, but it was nearly gone as was his life. One stopped, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder, earning a small growl from her husband, the possessive peanut-gallery sized midget.

He could remember all the times when he overlooked her, thought of her as a nothing, when it was really the reverse. She had been his world.

"I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye. Right now, mourn but say your goodbyes as well. You have someone who needs now as well." The person ironically had once been a death dealer, handing out invitations to god's party upstairs where the wine never ran out and everyone loved each other.

"………" He looked to the casket then kneeled at the headstone. A bundle of swathed cloth, in black as well, squirmed as he kneeled. He had promised her the world and now he couldn't keep the promise to her.

"Damn you, Koenma! Give her back!" He growled underneath his breath, the hand that wasn't clutching the swathed black bundle fisted. Tracing the curves of the characters, he stood, wiping away his tears while holding onto the remnant of his wife and their final hours, his son, Sasuke. "I won't ever say goodbye, Uremashi Keiko. I love you."

LLL

THE END! I FINALLY COMPLETED A STORY! GO ME! YEAAAAAH! GO ME! I had to end it on a sad note, after all, in life there is not many happy endings.


End file.
